Death and Dying Study Practice & Program

Join us for a year-long series of courses exploring Tibetan Buddhism’s philosophical and practical approach to death

Register

About the Program

Death is not a problem to be solved. It is a sacred passage to be understood, prepared for, and — when the time comes — met with as much clarity, courage, and love as we can muster. This program exists because most of us are not taught how to do that.

Dekeling’s Death and Dying Study & Practice (DDSP) Program is a comprehensive, year-or-more long curriculum that draws on classical Tibetan Buddhist teachings, contemporary research in neuroscience and end-of-life care, and decades of direct teaching experience. It is designed for people who want to go beyond surface-level comfort and actually learn — with both head and heart — what it means to live, die, and support others through that passage.

An Orientation and Information Session was held on January 29, 2026. If you missed it, recordings are available. That session introduced the program structure, the two participation tracks, and the question that underlies everything we do here: how does preparing for death transform how we live?

  • Individual Participants may attend any course or series that speaks to them. There is no commitment required beyond the individual offering.

    Those who wish to be Cohort Participants commit to one or both half-program sequences (Section I and/or Section II). Cohort members meet once monthly in a small-group Zoom session for integration, practice, and community — a container that deepens everything else. There is no additional charge for cohort group participation.

  • Pre-Program Offerings (Independent)

    The Six Bardos (5 sessions):  $75 / $135 / $195

    Going, Going, Gone Retreat (room & board included):  Zoom $275  |  Camping $525  |  Shared Cabin $675  |  Single $875

    Section I — Thanatology from the Tibetan Perspective

    Includes: What Happens? Death Explained (3 sessions) + How Dying Works (2 sessions) + You Are Dying (2 sessions)

    Section I Total:  $165 / $290 / $405

    Section II — Turning Towards Hands-On Practice

    Includes: Side by Side in Dying (3) + Keeping Peace in a Turbulent Transition (4) + Spiritual Support at End of Life (2) + Compassion & Continuity (4) + First Steps After Death (1) + Care of the Body (1) + Practical and Dispositional Decisions (2)

    Section II Total:  $430 / $735 / $1,030

    Both Sections Together

    Sections I + II combined:  $595 / $1,025 / $1,435

    10% discount — register and pay for both sections at once:  $535 / $920 / $1,290

    Cohort group participation (monthly integration sessions) is included at no additional charge for those enrolled in either or both sections.

  • All DDSP offerings are priced on a three-tier sliding scale. This is not a courtesy — it is a statement of values.

    We believe that genuine dharma education should be accessible across economic circumstances. The lower tier is for those for whom cost is a real constraint; the middle tier is for those who can contribute more comfortably; the upper tier allows those with means to support the participation of others. Each tier fully covers the teaching.

    Sliding scale pricing is one of the ways Dekeling stays in relationship with younger practitioners, those in transition, and those whose calling is not matched by their income. Our future as a community depends on that relationship. We are also sustained by the generosity of monthly sangha donors and by teachers who are practitioners first — people who teach because they believe in this work, not because it is their livelihood.

    Please choose the tier that is honest for your situation. No explanation is ever required.

  • Flexible, expert advice when you need it. Book hourly support across a range of topics—from planning to problem-solving. This focused consultation will help clarify your goals, map out next steps, and identify opportunities for growth.

Curriculum

The curriculum encompasses the whole year and was designed to build on itself.

Pre-Program Offerings

Classes to inform the foundation of the curriculum

  • Feb 17 – Apr 14 (every other Tuesday)  |  6:30–8:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $75 / $135 / $195

    Most of us think of life and death as separate events — a clean before and after. The Tibetan Buddhist teaching on the Six Bardos tells a more complete story. A bardo is a transitional state, a between — and according to this framework, we are always in one.

    This five-session course offers a clear, unhurried introduction to the six bardos:

    • The bardo of ordinary life

    • The bardo of meditation

    • The bardo of dreaming

    • The bardo of dying

    • The bardo of luminosity (dharmata)

    • The bardo of becoming


    Together these six states form a complete map of conscious experience — from waking life through death and into whatever follows. Understanding them is not an abstract exercise. It changes how you relate to every moment of transition, including the final one.

    This course is currently in progress. New registrations are welcome for remaining sessions. All sessions are recorded.

  • April 24–28, 2026  |  Friday afternoon – Tuesday morning  |  Ser Chö Ösel Ling, Washington State

    Tuition: Zoom $275  |  Camping $525  |  Shared Cabin $675  |  Single Cabin $875

    To make full use of a precious human life, we must come to terms with death — not as a distant idea, but as a lived reality that shapes how we practice right now.

    This four-day residential retreat offers immersive, experiential engagement with the teachings on death and dying. Lama Lekshe will guide participants through traditional Tibetan meditations, contemplations, practices, and rituals that cultivate:

    • Fearless living — meeting impermanence without flinching

    • Preparation for the dying process — what to do, how to be

    • Skillful engagement with the process of death itself

    • Views that expand one’s perspective, and therefore experience of death


    Retreat practice intensifies what classroom study introduces. If you have the opportunity to attend, this is worth rearranging your schedule for.

    Senior Teacher George Draffan will support the retreat with qigong guidance, offering participants an embodied complement to the meditation and contemplation work. Interviews with both Lama Lekshe and George are available on the Dekeling website for those who want a sense of the teachers before registering.

    This retreat is priced and registered separately from the DDSP program. Scholarship assistance may be available — contact Dekeling directly.

Part I: Thanatology from the Tibetan Perspective

The curriculum encompasses the whole year and was designed to build on itself.

  • May 5, 12, and 19  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $65 / $110 / $165

    Despite the certainty of death, most of us carry only vague, unexamined ideas about what it actually is. We inherit assumptions — from our culture, our religion, our fear — and rarely examine them directly.

    This three-session course offers a clear Tibetan Buddhist framework for understanding the nature of death. We will explore:

    • The nature of existence — what it is that comes into being and passes away

    • Expansion and contraction as fundamental movements underlying life and death

    • How different Tibetan Buddhist doctrinal lineages understand the dying process

    • The central question: What dies — and what, if anything, continues?

    • An introduction to reincarnation: the evidence, the mechanism, and the implications


    These teachings are not presented as dogma to be accepted, but as a tested map to be explored. Bring your questions. Skepticism is welcome here — it sharpens the investigation.

  • June 9 and 16  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $50 / $90 / $120

    While most people understand that the body eventually stops functioning, few are familiar with what actually happens — in sequence, at the level of consciousness — as a person moves through the dying process.

    This two-session course presents the traditional Tibetan Buddhist account of the dissolution of the elements and the stages of dying. We will trace the process from the exhaustion of the life force through the progressive withdrawal of awareness from the body, the dissolution of the gross elements, and the arising of the subtle signs that experienced practitioners recognize and work with at death.

    Topics include

    • The dissolution of the four elements (earth, water, fire, wind) and their corresponding signs

    • The eighty indicative thought states and their dissolution

    • The arising of the three experiences: appearance, increase, and near-attainment

    • The dawning of clear light at the moment of death

    • What family members, caregivers, and practitioners can do — and what to avoid — during this process


    Understanding the mechanics of dying reduces fear and increases the capacity to be genuinely helpful — to ourselves and to those we love.

  • July 14 and 21  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $50 / $90 / $120

    Knowing the map is one thing. Knowing what to do when you are on it is another.

    This two-session course turns toward how to practice as your own death is unfolding — the specific preparations and orientations that allow a person to meet their own death with greater clarity and less grasping. Drawing on classical Tibetan instructions for the dying person, we will work through

    • Letting go of the body and the habits of identity that cling to it

    • Recognizing the stages of dissolution as they arise — and not being swept away

    • The role of aspiration, prayer, and dedication of merit at the time of death

    • What to do with attachment — to people, possessions, unfinished business

    • How to prepare now, while living, so that dying is not your first attempt at any of this


    This is practical dharma. It is not morbid. People consistently report that engaging these teachings makes them less afraid of death and more awake to the life they are actually living.

Part II: Turning Towards — Hands-On Practice

Section II in the DDSP program moves from understanding to doing. These offerings emphasize practical skill: how to be present with a dying person, how to navigate the emotional and relational terrain around death, how to offer spiritual support, and how to care for the body and the bereaved after death.

Series A: Companions in Death — Supporting Someone Who Is Dying

This three-part series offers grounded, compassionate instruction for anyone who is accompanying a dying person — whether a family member, friend, or formal caregiver. You do not need to be a Buddhist practitioner to benefit from this series.

  • May 5, 12, and 19  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $65 / $110 / $165

    Despite the certainty of death, most of us carry only vague, unexamined ideas about what it actually is. We inherit assumptions — from our culture, our religion, our fear — and rarely examine them directly.

    This three-session course offers a clear Tibetan Buddhist framework for understanding the nature of death. We will explore:

    • The nature of existence — what it is that comes into being and passes away

    • Expansion and contraction as fundamental movements underlying life and death

    • How different Tibetan Buddhist doctrinal lineages understand the dying process

    • The central question: What dies — and what, if anything, continues?

    • An introduction to reincarnation: the evidence, the mechanism, and the implications


    These teachings are not presented as dogma to be accepted, but as a tested map to be explored. Bring your questions. Skepticism is welcome here — it sharpens the investigation.

  • June 9 and 16  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $50 / $90 / $120

    While most people understand that the body eventually stops functioning, few are familiar with what actually happens — in sequence, at the level of consciousness — as a person moves through the dying process.

    This two-session course presents the traditional Tibetan Buddhist account of the dissolution of the elements and the stages of dying. We will trace the process from the exhaustion of the life force through the progressive withdrawal of awareness from the body, the dissolution of the gross elements, and the arising of the subtle signs that experienced practitioners recognize and work with at death.

    Topics include

    • The dissolution of the four elements (earth, water, fire, wind) and their corresponding signs

    • The eighty indicative thought states and their dissolution

    • The arising of the three experiences: appearance, increase, and near-attainment

    • The dawning of clear light at the moment of death

    • What family members, caregivers, and practitioners can do — and what to avoid — during this process


    Understanding the mechanics of dying reduces fear and increases the capacity to be genuinely helpful — to ourselves and to those we love.

  • July 14 and 21  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $50 / $90 / $120

    Knowing the map is one thing. Knowing what to do when you are on it is another.

    This two-session course turns toward how to practice as your own death is unfolding — the specific preparations and orientations that allow a person to meet their own death with greater clarity and less grasping. Drawing on classical Tibetan instructions for the dying person, we will work through

    • Letting go of the body and the habits of identity that cling to it

    • Recognizing the stages of dissolution as they arise — and not being swept away

    • The role of aspiration, prayer, and dedication of merit at the time of death

    • What to do with attachment — to people, possessions, unfinished business

    • How to prepare now, while living, so that dying is not your first attempt at any of this


    This is practical dharma. It is not morbid. People consistently report that engaging these teachings makes them less afraid of death and more awake to the life they are actually living.

  • January 5, 12, 19, 26 (2027)  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom / Hands-on optional  |  $75 / $135 / $195

    Death does not end the relationship — or the opportunity to be of benefit. This four-session course explores the traditional Tibetan understanding of what continues after death and what practitioners can do to support that process.

    The teachings here draw directly on the Bardo Thodol (the Tibetan Book of the Dead) and related practices, presented in their living context — not as esoteric doctrine but as practical instructions for a real situation.

    Topics include

    • Reading from the Bardo Thodol — how, when, and with what intention

    • Tonglen as a practice for the deceased and those who are grieving

    • Dedication of merit: the logic and the practice

    • Dedicating one's own death — a profound preparation practice

    • Tibetan-style offerings and their meaning

    • Home rituals and the role of monastic ceremonies

    • Dekeling's family ancestor practice


    Optional hands-on sessions are available for those who want direct experience with rituals.

Series B: Continuum of Love — Care, Presence, and Choice After Death

For much of human history, families cared for their own dead. That intimacy has been largely handed over to professionals — often to everyone's loss. This series offers calm, clear instruction for those who want to reclaim that capacity, whether from spiritual motivation, practical necessity, or simple love. These are concrete skills. No prior experience is assumed.

  • May 5, 12, and 19  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $65 / $110 / $165

    Despite the certainty of death, most of us carry only vague, unexamined ideas about what it actually is. We inherit assumptions — from our culture, our religion, our fear — and rarely examine them directly.

    This three-session course offers a clear Tibetan Buddhist framework for understanding the nature of death. We will explore:

    • The nature of existence — what it is that comes into being and passes away

    • Expansion and contraction as fundamental movements underlying life and death

    • How different Tibetan Buddhist doctrinal lineages understand the dying process

    • The central question: What dies — and what, if anything, continues?

    • An introduction to reincarnation: the evidence, the mechanism, and the implications


    These teachings are not presented as dogma to be accepted, but as a tested map to be explored. Bring your questions. Skepticism is welcome here — it sharpens the investigation.

  • June 9 and 16  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $50 / $90 / $120

    While most people understand that the body eventually stops functioning, few are familiar with what actually happens — in sequence, at the level of consciousness — as a person moves through the dying process.

    This two-session course presents the traditional Tibetan Buddhist account of the dissolution of the elements and the stages of dying. We will trace the process from the exhaustion of the life force through the progressive withdrawal of awareness from the body, the dissolution of the gross elements, and the arising of the subtle signs that experienced practitioners recognize and work with at death.

    Topics include

    • The dissolution of the four elements (earth, water, fire, wind) and their corresponding signs

    • The eighty indicative thought states and their dissolution

    • The arising of the three experiences: appearance, increase, and near-attainment

    • The dawning of clear light at the moment of death

    • What family members, caregivers, and practitioners can do — and what to avoid — during this process


    Understanding the mechanics of dying reduces fear and increases the capacity to be genuinely helpful — to ourselves and to those we love.

  • July 14 and 21  |  5:30–7:30 PM PT  |  Zoom  |  $50 / $90 / $120

    Knowing the map is one thing. Knowing what to do when you are on it is another.

    This two-session course turns toward how to practice as your own death is unfolding — the specific preparations and orientations that allow a person to meet their own death with greater clarity and less grasping. Drawing on classical Tibetan instructions for the dying person, we will work through

    • Letting go of the body and the habits of identity that cling to it

    • Recognizing the stages of dissolution as they arise — and not being swept away

    • The role of aspiration, prayer, and dedication of merit at the time of death

    • What to do with attachment — to people, possessions, unfinished business

    • How to prepare now, while living, so that dying is not your first attempt at any of this


    This is practical dharma. It is not morbid. People consistently report that engaging these teachings makes them less afraid of death and more awake to the life they are actually living.